


Hooligans

by hausofwolves



Series: TattooArtist!Zuko [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (as in I say fuck a lot), (please dont ever do that), Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Jetko, Kitchen Tattoos, Love Confessions, M/M, Strong Language, TattooArtist!Zuko, give jet depth 2k20, its tattooverse babey, this is lowkey sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26350672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hausofwolves/pseuds/hausofwolves
Summary: After his apprenticeship ended and Zuko is capable of tattooing actual clients, who better to be his first official client than his boyfriend, Jet?
Relationships: Jet/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: TattooArtist!Zuko [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1914550
Comments: 5
Kudos: 81





	Hooligans

It started as just a passing idea;  _ let me tattoo you as practice.  _ A stupid idea Zuko had mentioned jokingly once his apprenticeship at Uncle Iroh’s tattoo shop really took off, but what he didn’t expect was his boyfriend to actually be completely on board with it… and he definitely didn’t expect Jet to bring it up again. He remembered the day pretty fondly; It was one of his and Jet’s lazy days off. No work, no stress, nothing to worry about. Just sweatpants and cuddling on Zuko’s couch with Jet as long as they wanted. Jet’s fingers ruffled through his boyfriends dark hair with one hand, his other lightly tracing over the black outline of the half-finished dragon etched into the pale skin of Zuko’s back as he rested his head on Jet’s chest and slowly put himself to sleep to the sound of his heartbeat. 

“Zuko?” Jet asked, his voice low and sleepy, earning a hum in response, only half lucid. “Will you tattoo me?” 

Zuko, ever so disgruntled from being woken up, lifted his head up. His golden brown eyes, half lidded and heavy with sleep, trailed up to meet the familiar dark brown he’d spent the past year and a half getting lost in. “You know I was kidding when I said I was gonna make you my guinea pig for tattoos, right?” Zuko mumbled. 

“ _ I  _ wasn’t kidding when I said I’d let you.” Jet said, lips stretched into a smirk. Zuko frowned and dropped his head back down onto the same spot on Jet’s chest, a soft groan rumbled from the back of his throat. “C’mon, you said you needed practice.” 

“I’m not that good, Jet,” Zuko muttered. “The work isn’t gonna look as good. I’m barely a tattoo artist, and a  _ new  _ one on top of that.” 

“Practice makes perfect, or whatever,” Jet hummed. 

Zuko huffed out a breath, shifting his body to sit up and shoot Jet a grumpy frown. “You’re not gonna let this go, huh?” he sighed. Jet shook his head wordlessly. Zuko rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the couch to make his way to his room. “Wait at the kitchen table, I guess,” he called out from halfway down the hallway. Jet grinned wide and scrambled up off the couch, sprinting over to the round wooden table, taking a seat and propping his right leg on the table’s surface. 

His whole body felt electrified, but in the best of ways. His first tattoo, done by his boyfriend at the kitchen table.  _ Just another memory between us, _ Jet thought, his consciousness interrupted by the sound of Zuko shuffling back down the hallway, carrying a large black box in his hands. 

“You’re lucky I like you and remembered to bring my supplies home,” Zuko sighed, taking a seat in front of Jet. 

“Oh, whatever,” Jet groaned, eyes fixated on Zuko setting up everything at the table. He never really understood the ins and outs of tattoos until he and Zuko really got on terms serious enough to say they were exclusive. Jet knew he’d eventually get tattoos - once he had the funds and time to get them - but being with Zuko really just pushed him even more to get them, especially if he could get them  _ by  _ Zuko. Truth be told, Jet cared about the guy more than he was capable of showing and deep down wanted to see Zuko happy with his passion… and damn it, he was going to help him any way he could. 

Zuko, after getting his rotary and ink prepared, squirted out the cold mixture of castile soap onto Jet’s skin and ran the shaving razor over his ankle to get a blank surface, dark eyes watching shaky hands work. “You seem nervous,” Jet pointed out as Zuko pulled the cap of a blue permanent marker off with his teeth and began to sketch out a design on the smooth skin. 

“What gave it away?” Zuko said flatly, gloved hands finishing up the basic design. Jet’s gaze fell down to the image Zuko had drawn up for his first tattoo and snorted; a single stalk of wheat. A fucking wheat stalk, because of course he would pick a design that was simultaneously ridiculous to anyone that saw it and a hilarious inside joke between them. Zuko used to call Jet ‘Scarecrow’ in reference to  _ Wizard of Oz _ because “you’ve got a heart of gold, but I’m not convinced you’ve got a brain half the time.”  _ How rude, my own boyfriend, _ Jet thought.

Zuko sat back, his head tilted to observe his work with a stupid half smirk on his face. “Yeah, I think that’ll be fine for your first,” Zuko hummed as he dipped the 3RL needle into the cap of rich, black ink. The buzzing sound of the machine startled Jet a little bit, his body jolting in surprise enough for Zuko to take notice. “Are you positive you wanna go through with this? You can’t wash away a tattoo,” he warned. 

“Just do it already,” he snapped, immediately followed by a pained groan as the needle made contact with his skin. Zuko rested his free hand gently on Jet’s ankle, stretching the surrounding skin enough to allow the machine to create clean lines. Jet gripped the edge of the table and gritted his teeth as the needle passed over the bone, his grip tightening. Zuko pulled away momentarily to dip in for more ink, his other hand soothingly patting Jet’s leg. 

“Please relax,” he mumbled before diving back in, his hand guiding the rotary up the stem of the stalk drawn onto the skin. Jet let out a soft sigh of relief as the needle stopped making contact with his bone, but kept his grip tight subconsciously from the foreign feeling of having a thin needle jab ink into his skin over and over. He watched as Zuko worked, mesmerized by the sight of someone he really cared about doing something they were so passionate about. What Zuko could do with a pen and paper never ceased to amaze Jet and he truly felt like he could never get tired of watching him work. 

“And you said you weren’t that good,” Jet scoffed, watching as Zuko flicked his wrist to replicate a softer texture of the wheat grass. He groaned and continued to focus on Jet’s leg, clearly zoned in on one thing and one thing only; getting this done. He leaned his head back against the chair, staring up at the ceiling to try and focus on anything other than the slight burning sensation he was experiencing from his skin being overworked. Maybe tattoos  _ weren’t _ for him… maybe. 

He couldn’t quite remember when, but Jet’s eyes had slipped closed and before he could even have time to register it, the sound of the machine was gone and a cool sensation of the water and soap mixture washed over the area on Jet’s leg. He winced and looked down to see Zuko gently patting the area dry with a sheet of paper towel before wrapping it with saran wrap. “There you go, first tattoo,” he mumbled, turning his body to begin his clean up procedure. 

Jet stared down at the black lines etched into his skin forever, surrounding skin raised and red with irritation. He did it.  _ He finally did it. _ He finally had something to commemorate the relationship he and Zuko had slowly built together over the course of a year and a half. They’d both be lying if they said it was easy, because it was the furthest thing from easy. Both men, in their twenty odd years on this planet, did their utmost to mask emotions out of fear and instinct, so opening up was difficult. Just when they felt like they’d gotten ahead, they took two steps back with emotions… but tonight was different. 

Jet’s eyes stayed locked on the image inked into his skin when he finally said it. “I love you, Zuko,” he whispered. 

Zuko’s eyes widened, his hands froze as they hovered over the rotary to fit it back into the case. He snapped his head to look at Jet, lips hung open to say something but nothing could come out besides the faintest hum of confusion. 

“Did… did you hear me?” Jet asked softly. “I… said I love you,” he repeated. 

“Yeah, I heard you,” Zuko said followed by a long pause. “But…  _ why? _ ” 

_ Why? Why is he asking me why? _ Jet thought. He furrowed his brows and leaned forward to wrap his arms around Zuko’s waist and press the lightest kiss to the edge of the scar plastered around his eye. Zuko winced at the contact and rested his forehead on Jet’s shoulder. “Why do you love me?” he whispered. 

“Why do we love anything? We can’t help it,” Jet said, his voice low. “I can’t really explain  _ why _ , I just  _ know _ I do and fuck, I’ll say it every day if I have to until you understand that.” 

Zuko fell quiet, relaxing against Jet’s embrace as his words processed in his head.  _ Fuck, he loves me. He loves me and he’s saying it and I think he means it, _ Zuko thought.  _ Do I mean it? Do I love him? Of course I do, but does he really really mean it? Is he messing with me?  _

“I…” Zuko began, the rest of his words getting caught in his throat before he worked up the nerve to try it again. Zuko pulled away from Jet’s shoulder and looked him right in the eyes, searching for any sign of uncertainty, for his own sake. “I, uh… I love you, too.” He whispered. 

Jet’s lips widened into a smile Zuko had only ever seen one other time in their time together before pulling him into a kiss Zuko could only describe as passionate, but  _ incredible.  _ “Promise?” Jet whispered against his lips. 

“I promise.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Plug time!   
> tumblr - @hottopiczuko (prev. extragayzuko)


End file.
